Bring it on Home
by Nat aka Merry
Summary: One-shot. After a long and difficult day, Ryan decides to pay a visit to his best friends. However, the visit doesn't go as planned when he walks in on them talking about him...


**Bring it on Home**

**Basic Summary**: Ryan walks in on his two best friends talking about him.

**Rating**: K

**Disclaimer**: High School Musical and all related characters do not belong to the author. Valeria Locke and Zack Bedingfield, however, do. Danielle Lawrencia belongs to ax1000xdays.

**Author's Notes**: This was spawned by a plot bunny while replying to a roleplay thread. It was written in less than two hours and is, by no means, great writing. My musical inspiration for this was "Bring it on Home" by Little Big Town. The song came up on iTunes while I was writing this one-shot and it was so perfect.

Enjoy!

* * *

Ryan Evans was _not_ in a good mood.

To start the day off, he had been woken up at four in the morning by his roommate, Zack – who, unfortunately, was an avid gamer – shouting obscenities at some Xbox game. This persisted until six-thirty, at which point Ryan had no choice but to get up. It was just as well, really, since he had a class at eight. He needed to catch up on some required reading, anyway. However, when the microwave had decided to set his chocolate chip Pop Tarts on fire, he should have known that it was not going to be a good day.

Later on, his phone had vibrated from inside his pocket countless times during a dance rehearsal, effectively causing him to misstep. During a break, he had checked his missed calls to see that Sharpay had been the constant caller. This worried him, considering that Sharpay usually called a maximum of three times and then left a voicemail if she just wanted to talk. If she called more than that, something had to be wrong. What was even worse was that there was no reception in the building and rehearsal would not end for another hour. Thus, the male Evans twin spent the remainder of the time in a constant state of worry.

When released from rehearsal, Ryan had frantically called Sharpay until she answered, only to find that his sister had only wanted to rant about something Tiara had done. It appeared that the blonde diva had gotten it out of her system... Until two minutes and thirty-four seconds into the call, at which point Sharpay proceeded to talk Ryan's ear off for another half an hour, making him late for his next class.

Looking back over the day's events, Ryan wondered if he should have just stayed in bed.

Sighing, he made his way up the stairs of Juilliard's residence hall. He intended to pay a surprise visit to his best friends, Danielle Lawrencia and Valeria Locke, in an attempt to lighten his mood. The two girls always found a way to cheer him up.

When Ryan reached their floor, he could see from the staircase that the door to their dorm room was cracked slightly. Intrigued, he made his way down the hall, and he found that if he listened, he could hear the girls talking as he drew near.

"Troy and Gabriella are so perfect. It's depressing, actually, when you think about it. They've got each other. We've got a school where at least sixty percent of the male population is gay," came Valeria's voice from inside, and Ryan almost laughed aloud.

'_Val is so optimistic,' _he thought sarcastically, standing at their door now. He was about to enter when Danielle's voice stopped him in his tracks.

"What about Ryan? He's sensitive."

The young man in question raised an eyebrow at this, becoming very curious. His best friends talked about him when he wasn't around? At least it wasn't anything negative... Still, he was surprised. Ryan quietly entered the room the two girls shared, immediately ducking into the vacant bathroom to avoid being seen.

"True, true, Ryan is absolutely precious. And has really pretty eyes, the lucky duck." This came from Valeria, and from the direction of her voice, Ryan guessed that she was in the dorm's equivalent of a living room.

_'Probably sitting on the right side of the couch, with her right leg tucked under her and her left one propped on the coffee table,'_ he thought, then realized the ridiculous extent to which he knew his best friends. Shrugging a little to himself, he listened as Valeria spoke once more. "Which makes one wonder why he's never dated anybody."

Refraining a groan, Ryan rested his head against the door frame. That was one topic he did not care to think about.

"Well, he _does_ hang out with us a lot. I guess other girls feel threatened by our constant presence." Truth by told, Ryan had never given much thought to the point brought up by Danielle. It was something to think about... "I don't know. It IS odd. I think any girl would be lucky to have a guy like Ryan. They don't know what they're missing."

Ryan couldn't help but smile, feeling his cheeks grow warm. Danielle was, quite possibly, the most thoughtful person he had ever met. He watched her shadow cross the floor from the kitchen into the living room, hearing the couch creak softly as the Latina settled herself beside Valeria. This meant that both of their backs would be to him, should he be out in the open of the entry way – or in the threshold of the living room, for that matter.

"I agree. He's absolutely amazing... Pretty much the perfect boyfriend, really. I don't know why more girls don't realize that. Either way, it's their loss."

To his surprise, the nineteen year old found himself tearing up after hearing Valeria's last statement. Really, how lucky was he to have both of these girls? They had been there for him through the insanity of his final year of high school, the transition from East High to Juilliard, Sharpay's crazy separation anxiety, not to mention his own... Composing himself, Ryan walked slowly into the living room, speaking for the first time.

"How sweet."

Both of the girls on the couch jumped, whirling around with wide eyes. When they saw who it was, however, they both visibly relaxed.

"How did you get in here?" Danielle asked, setting the carton of cookie dough ice cream she had been eating from aside. Ryan smiled – he had apparently walked in on a girls' night.

"Your door was open. Might want to make sure it shuts, you know. We are in New York, after all," he quipped, making his way over to stand behind the couch.

"I think we're going to invest in a padlock and some caution tape after this," Valeria breathed, leaning her head back against the padded couch. Danielle, however, wore a wary expression.

"How long have you been in here?"

"Long enough," he began, jumping over the back of the couch, effectively almost kicking Valeria in the back of the head as he landed between the girls, "to make me wonder what I've done to deserve such incredible best friends."

He slipped an arm around both the Latina and the redhead, pulling them to him and kissing them both on the cheek in turn.

"I'm the lucky one, without a doubt. I love you two, I hope you know that," Ryan said, smiling softly. Just then, a DVD case sitting near the television caught his eye, and his jaw dropped.

"You were going to watch _Made of Honor_ without me?!"

The girls just laughed, shaking their heads sadly.

"We love you, too, Ry."


End file.
